00:21:31 · Heather McLean, Ezekiel Iferia
[00:21:31] S1: Well, I would say I... I've experienced, you know, the burnout when I was working on vacation, and now I am trying to give myself more grace and allow myself to have more self care and do more things for myself. So I think I've I've just sort of learned that I do better at my job when I am more well rounded when I have other things I can pour creative energy into, like cooking, or other things like travel that I can share with my family and my husband. So I think, you know, being a more well rounded person, giving yourself space to do things that interest you outside of work is really important to sort of de stressing and helping you carry the mental load of all the things that you are doing at work. One of the things I love to do is I love to go on TikTok and find a recipe. I I get a lot of recipe TikToks on my feed, and I find something that looks interesting and tasty. And I try it at home, and I even make my own TikTok videos, you know, as I'm cooking that. So I've been working on sort of doing that a little bit. It's been a lot of fun. [00:22:44] S0: Alright. So after twenty years in the air force, you know, building a 100 person team, you know, at a Fortune 500 company and now founding your own firm, I'd like to know what does innovation in leadership and AI mean to you now?
00:22:44 · Ezekiel Iferia, Heather McLean
[00:22:44] S0: Alright. So after twenty years in the air force, you know, building a 100 person team, you know, at a Fortune 500 company and now founding your own firm, I'd like to know what does innovation in leadership and AI mean to you now? [00:22:59] S1: Innovation is one of our core values because I think it's critical to sort of keep that as one of the the goals of the organization. It's one of the things that is so exciting about this time that we're living in right now because the amount of innovation that is happening right now because of AI is just truly exploding, and it's it's exciting to watch. So for us, it's a core value because we want to stay at the leading edge of technology, and we want to be able to bring that to our clients. And so we have to keep up on what's next, and I know it's something new every day. But, but but trying to keep up with innovation and continually pushing ourselves to innovate in what we build is is gonna make us better able to serve our clients and gonna make the products and software that we build even better. So that's why it's so important to us. And, also, you know, being innovative is fun. And who doesn't wanna work for a company that wants to have fun and do work at the same time? [00:24:03] S0: Alright. Alright. Fantastic. For for... To to wrap things up here, you know, for our listeners who actually want to maybe continue this conversation, they want to connect with you, you know, go learn more about McLean Forrester. Where is the best place for them to go start?
00:24:03 · Ezekiel Iferia, Heather McLean
[00:24:03] S0: Alright. Alright. Fantastic. For for... To to wrap things up here, you know, for our listeners who actually want to maybe continue this conversation, they want to connect with you, you know, go learn more about McLean Forrester. Where is the best place for them to go start? [00:24:21] S1: You can go to our website, mcleanforrester.com. You can find me on LinkedIn and just send me a message. You can also shoot an email to info@McLeanForrester.com. So lots of different ways you can get in touch with us. We like to say chats are free. I love to meet new people. It's part of my personal growth goal to, you know, expand my network and and meet new people. So reach out. Love to have a chat. [00:24:45] S0: Alright. I'll be sure to have the website in the in the show notes of this podcast. So, Heather, it has been truly insightful and valuable conversation with you here today. And once again, thank you very much for taking the time to join us on the show. [00:25:01] S1: You're welcome. It's been wonderful. I appreciate the opportunity. Take care.